Monday, December 26, 2005

Germany's Appeasement

This is why I want to spit every time I hear people whine about America not respecting their "European Allies"...today's New York Post editorial page talks about the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 back in 1985, and how Europe "respects" their American friends:...Robert Dean Stethem, a U.S. Navy diver from Maryland, was brutally beaten and shot to death on the second day of the ordeal — apparently singled out after the terrorists found his military ID card. His body was dumped unceremoniously on the tarmac.One of the hijackers, Mohammed Ali Hamadi, was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for air piracy, possession of explosives — and the murder of Stethem. But, as of last Thursday, Mohammed Ali Hamadi is a free man. Not only that, he was put on a plane by German authorities for his native Lebanon — where, presumably, he will rejoin his terrorist colleagues.This despite the fact that Hamadi remains under indictment in this country for Stethem's murder — and Washington from the outset had been pressing Germany for his extradition. Instead, Hamadi was set free after what officials described as a "routine" parole hearing; under German law, he was eligible to be freed after serving at least 15 years.Of course, there was one other possible factor in Hamadi's release — one that is far from "routine": It came just three days before a German archaeologist taken hostage by terrorists in Iraq was set free.Predictably, officials in Berlin insisted there was "no connection between these two cases." But we have no doubt that a large grain of salt is called for.

As for Stethem's family, they're understandably stunned at this turn of events. "It just doesn't make sense," said his still-grieving mother.Actually, it does — when you take into account much of Europe's continuing, cowardly refusal to stand up to the terrorist threat. Let's see if we can figure out the Zeropean mentality...take one of our people hostage, we'll release a wanted terrorist...and that will stop it from happening again!A curse upon this fey cowardice; it is no wonder Europe has been the focal point of so much war, death, and immorality over the last few centuries. I would wish a pox on their heads, but their appears to be one already there...Link to NY Post editorial here: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/59466.htm